Danter, Ian: Prove You Wrong

Melodic Hard Rock/AOR

3.5/5.0

While you don't necessarily need to be English to know Ian Danter or understand the reason for the title of his first solo album, Prove You Wrong, it certainly helps. Danter is a well-known sports presenter (we call them commentators in the States) for talkSPORT Radio's "Football First.' He also dabbles in television, comedy writing, impressionism and voice over, and also, in the case concerned, music. Prove You Wrong is an attempt to show the English punters that he can do sports and rock. While I don't necessarily think he has a chip on his shoulder, Danter probably does want to tweak those punters's noses just a tiny bit.

Ian Danter:: behind the kit.

When not keeping up with English football, Danter has played in Thin Lizzy (Dizzy Lizzy) and Dressed to Kill (KISS) tribute bands. He plays drums, guitar, bass, keyboards, sings background vocals and sometimes lead vocals, and writes his own music. Prove You Wrong is a collection of 15 melodic hard rock songs, in the classic tradition, he's written over the years.

Excepting a few guest guitar solos, Danter plays all the instruments and, excepting a few songs, Less Small of Shy handles all the lead vocals. Danter sings on Prove You Wrong, appropriately, but also Overflow and I Wanna Be a Has-Been, which also seems ironically appropriate. He's not a bad singer, but Small truly carries this album. The album also starts rather strong with the first two cuts, but after Danter's performance on the title track things get a little bumpy, perhaps even predictable. Yet with several listens Prove You Wrong could grow on you. True standouts come with Soulmate, Cloud 9, I Cried Tonight, a nice ballad, I'll Get Around to It, a stronger rocker and, surprisingly, the aforementioned I Wanna Be a Has-Been.

But, generally, Prove You Wrong is likely the case of too much at one time. Danter probably should have trimmed down the album to, maybe, 10 songs rather than giving us a cluster grenade of fifteen. Pick the best to impress the blokes, and save the rest in reserve for additional proof in a second album. Nevertheless, regardless of the amount of songs or what UK sports or music fans think, I believe Danter did this for himself, to simply exercise his musical talent, express some creativity, and lay the tracks down. Prove You Wrong is worth checking out.

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